A moody, effective thriller for about 80 percent of the way, and then our hands close on air. If you walk out before the ending, you'll think it's better than it is.
The story's rhythm is so bogged down in unnecessary characterization that the film can hardly breathe.
40
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
Aiming to elicit a last-minute shiver from the audience, Gaghan is likely to get instead a mood-destroying giggle.
40
Village VoiceEd Park
Village VoiceEd Park
Hardly a nuanced portrait of a young woman's breakdown, the film nevertheless works up a few scares, particularly a tense call-number hunt in the library stacks.
Gaghan shows promise as a director, but Abandon leaves a lot of room for improvement.
38
USA TodayMike Clark
USA TodayMike Clark
Holmes, of Dawson's Creek, will be up the creek if she can't avoid movies like this. And so will you if you see it.
33
Portland OregonianKim Morgan
Portland OregonianKim Morgan
Has a few pleasing stylistic flourishes and a potentially Hitchcockian plot, but the writing and rhythm are so off that when the final "shocker" arrives, we have seen it coming or have abandoned caring.
A trite psychological thriller -- all buildup and no payoff, a mystery that essentially offers only two alternative solutions, which diminishes the element of surprise and strings the viewer along way past caring which possibility proves to be true.